Mistletoe
by Moonpattern
Summary: Response to a Christmas Challenge


Fic Title: Mistletoe

Author: Moonpattern

Fandom: CSI

Pairing: None

Date: December 2004

Feedback: I'll take feedback

Rating: G

Disclaimer: ("This is not meant to be taken as true, I make no $$$ . . .")

Summary: Response to the Christmas Challenge

Dedications: None

It has to involve these 4 things:

- Some one must call Grissom Santa

- Some one must wear a big red and green hat with bells on it

- When some one's name is called they must answer with "Ho ho ho!"

- And there has to be at least one dancing CSI. They can be dancing to any Christmas song. You pick.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Are you all going to the Crime Lab Christmas Party Sara?" Greg asked slipping into the break room.

"Parties aren't my thing, Greg, you know that!"

"Come on Sar, you gotta go, you will miss my Christmas hat!"

"We will see, Greg, but I'm not making you any promises!"

"Cool, Sara, What about the rest of you guys," Greg said looking at the rest of his crew, "Are you guys going to the Crime Lab Christmas party?"

No words were exchanged before Grissom was in the doorway of the break room. "What's this I hear about the Christmas party?"

"I was just wondering who was going?" Greg interjected.

"Well, as far as all of you are concerned, I was ordered to be there, so therefore the rest of you are now being ordered to be there!"

"Griss…" their words were stopped.

"This is not a negotiation, I expect all of you to be there, here are your assignments for tonight," Grissom passed out the assignment slips, "I expect you to try and wrap them up ASAP because tomorrow night is our Christmas party." With that Grissom retreated to the confines of his office.

He didn't want to go to the Christmas party either. Parties were not his things, that was for sure, but now that Ecklie was in charge, and Ecklie was his superior, it was something he had to do, along with the rest of his crew.

The night went by slowly, Grissom kept watching the clock hoping the night would end. He had been along for so long that he had not learned to appreciate Christmas. He usually just spent it with himself, his bugs and a bottle of fine wine. No parties, no people, least of all, no crime lab staff. Grissom was not a socialite, but thanks to Ecklie, he had to wear his head high and attend the party.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXx

Catherine and Lindsay arrived at the lab with decorations in tow. Ecklie gave her job of decorating for the Crime Lab Christmas party the following night. She had brought Lindsay along because she thought it would give her some time with Lindsay as well as allow her to keep an eye on her during Christmas break. Warrick met them there with the Christmas tree and quickly began to set it up so that the girls could add the decorations.

The tree had to be at least eight feet tall and full of branches just awaiting the lights and decorations that the girls had brought with them.

"Wow, Warrick! Nice tree!" Lindsay stated.

"It is nice, isn't it Linds, but just you wait till it gets all those decorations and lights, then it is going to be a really nice tree!" Warrick added taking the first string of lights and adding them to the tree.

"Wow, Rick, you pick out trees and do lights? I have to say, I am impressed!" Catherine stated.

"I lived with my Grandmother, she hated putting the lights on a tree, I had to do it every year, so I actually became good at it!" Warrick was grinning at Catherine as he continued adding lights to the tree.

They busily added the lights to the tree and began to add the decorations. After nearly two hours at the tree, their masterpiece was completed. They then began to decorate the rest of the room. The cafeteria at the Crime Lab was transformed into a close replica to Santa's Workshop. With there decorating duty completed, they were all satisfied and left to prepare for the remainder of the evening.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The party was slated to start at six for six-thirty with cocktails and appetizers, after that Ecklie had some surprise entertainment planned for the employees of the Crime Lab. After the entertainment there was to be a banquet style meal and then a gift exchange.

The employees all began to arrive around six and were in awe of the decorations that Catherine and Warrick had provided. The tree was donned in bright lights and pretty ribbons. There was mistletoe in every doorway of the cafeteria; Catherine figured that it would add something interesting to what she figured was going to be a very boring party. She would be in for a surprise, so would everyone else when they saw what Ecklie had planned for them for the evening.

Catherine was dressed in a classy red gown accompanied with a black wrap and strappy shoes. It made Warrick stand up and take notice. "Whoa Cath…you look…er um…nice tonight!"

"Thanks Warrick," Catherine said coyly, "You don't look half bad either!" Warrick was dressed in a nice three-piece suit accompanied with a red Christmas tie for the season.

Sara arrived in a timely manner as well; she too was dressed in a dress. They were not used to Sara being dressed up, let alone in a dress. Sara wore a knee length forest green dress with small red flowers on it. She paired it with knee high boots that complimented the outfit wholly. Her outfit would certainly make Grissom stand up and take notice.

"Wow, Sara, you clean up good girl!" Said Nick as he approached Sara.

"Thanks Nicky! You don't look half bad either!" Sara was smiling. Nick was wearing a pair of Black jeans, a white shirt and a Christmas tie accompanied with his Cowboy boots. Being form Texas, he took every chance he could to show his roots.

Grissom walked into the Cafeteria in a pair of blue chinos and a blue sports jacket paired with a nice shirt, not too dressy, but not too casual either. Sara was impressed; she loved it when he wore blue because it brought out the color of his eyes. Grissom scanned the room. He noticed that most of the crew was there with the exception of Greg. He then turned his head and noticed a beautiful figure standing across the room dressed in a green gown that had legs that went on forever. He took a closer look and realized that the figure he was admiring was indeed Sara Sidle. _Wow _he thought to himself, she looks beautiful. She then turned around, made eye contact with him and began to walk to his side of the room.

"Hey Griss," She started as she approached him. "Didn't Cath and Warrick do a good job decorating this place?"

"Yup, it looks good!" He was trying to not stare at Sara's lovely form.

"Griss," Sara Began, "You look nice tonight, I like the way the blue in your jacket brings out the blue in your eyes."

"I beg your pardon Sara?" He asked, "Have you been drinking?"

"Jeez, Grissom, is that what you ask everyone who pays you a compliment. I didn't mean anything by it Griss, I was just being polite. I think you look nice and I just wanted to let you know."

"I'm sorry, Sara, I didn't mean to sound ignorant. Thank you for your compliment, and by the way, you look nice tonight as well."

"Thank you, Mr Grissom, would you like to accompany me to the bar for a cocktail and a few appetizers?"

"Sure."

Grissom and Sara approached the bar and drank a non-alcoholic cocktail, after Sara's near DUI she was taking it cool Grissom also didn't like to drink a lot so he opted for a non-alcoholic cocktail as well. Grissom and Sara were in mid conversation when Greg arrived to the cafeteria. Everyone stopped and looked at Greg, they were shocked at what he was wearing. Greg was in a green short-sleeved shirt with a green Christmas tie and Green pants, that wasn't unusual for Greg, no what was getting all the attention was what Greg had on his head. He had a big red and green hat with bells on it; it looked like something a court jester would wear except it was decorated with holly and mistletoe.

They all looked stunned as Greg approached them, "Greg, what is with the hat?"

"This?" he asked pointing to the contraption on his head, "This is my Christmas hat, and it comes complete with my own mistletoe, any takers?" He said as he scanned the room.

Sara and Catherine looked at each other and then together responded to Greg, "No way man!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The party began to get hopping; everyone was enjoying their cocktails and appetizers when Ecklie stood on the makeshift stage to introduce the entertainment for the night. The entertainment was Kazam, a hypnotist in the greater Las Vegas area. Only Ecklie would figure that a hypnotist would appropriate entertainment for a staff Christmas party.

"What is this?" Sara asked, "What type of entertainment is this, only Ecklie would find this humorous!" They all agreed and made their way to their seats to wait for their entertainment.

Kazam was a rather large round man who was very loud and boisterous. He did various exercises where he got volunteers from the audience. It was funny to say the least. This man was good; he made these otherwise socially inept people do some really strange things. One guy walked around clucking like a chicken on command and when he said the special word they went back to normal.

Kazam looked in the way of the Graveyard shift and particularly one CSI Sara Sidle. He asked her to step up on the stage and take a seat. She was sceptical but they urged her to do it so she complied. Sara sat there as he mumbled some strange words, the next thing she knew she was awake and everyone was clapping. She made her way back to her seat.

"What just happened?" she asked.

"He hypnotized you Sara!" Grissom interjected.

"Well I know that, but how, what, what did I do?"

"Nothing embarrassing Sara, you just went over and hugged Kazam and called him Santa, nothing major!"

"Oh, that's all! I was scared I did something stupid!" She went back to enjoying the show.

The next volunteer was Catherine. After urging Sara to go along, Catherine couldn't refuse. Catherine sat there as he mumbled some strange words, the next thing she knew she was awake and everyone was clapping. She made her way back to her seat.

"I didn't do anything stupid, did I?" She asked

"No," Warrick exclaimed, "Every time he said your name you responded with "Ho, Ho, Ho!"

"Well, that ain't too bad, now is it!" She added laughing.

Kazam was now down for his finally, the whole room was laughing hysterically. This guy was good at what he did, they gave him that, but for his finally trick, he needed a few more pieces of to his puzzle.

Kazam finished his show with a word and snapped his fingers. Sara looked over at Grissom and said, "I love you Santa!" and planted a kiss on his cheek. Grissom blushed in response to her affection and the rest of the crew began to laugh.

"Hey Catherine," Warrick announced in Catherine's direction

"HO, HO, HO!" was her only reply.

With a snap of Kazam's fingers, everybody was back to normal and the clapping began. Within seconds the room was transformed into a banquet hall and dinner was served. The conversation between Grissom and Sara was a bit distant at best after the affection exchanged while she was under the hypnotic trance.

"Griss, I am sorry about the whole Santa thing!" She added chewing on her Tofu Turkey.

"Sara, I know you were under someone else's influence, you wouldn't have done that by your own free will!" _Would you_? He silently added to himself.

"You're right Griss, I just was a bit embarrassed by my behavior."

"So, ok, we will just drop it and not discuss it again, agreed?"

"Agreed!"

They went on eating their turkey dinner and then on to the presents. The idea behind the gifts was to be completely anonymous, buy a gift for the same sex as you; therefore, a girl buys a gift for a girl, a guy a gift for a guy. All the gifts were all placed under the tree with either a M or F on it and they were given out correspondently. After the gifts were opened and the mess cleaned up the tables were put away and the dance began. They played various Christmas songs to keep with the spirit of the season.

The band began to play_ Jingle Bell Rock_ and Greg got up and did a performance for the rest of the Crime Lab. The whole room was laughing hysterically at Greg bouncing around ringing and bopping to the song. The next song the band played was _All I want for Christmas is You_. When the song started Sara looked over at Grissom and asked him if he would like to dance with her. Grissom was put on the spot, but he complied and accompanied her to the dance floor. Grissom was a swift dancer and Sara had little trouble keeping up with him. He swirled her around and she smiled enjoying herself. The whole team sat in awe of what they were seeing before them. He spinned her around and looked up and noticed the mistletoe hanging from the ceiling, he looked up at it and looked down at Sara. He froze for a moment and then without thinking he leaned down and planted a kiss on Sara's lips. They were both silent and then he decided he needed to speak.

"Mistletoe!" He said pointing at the little bunch of greenery above their heads.

"Oh!" was her only reply and with that the song ended and they headed back to the table.

They were getting some serious looks from the rest of the table. They both had a semi-grin upon their faces and in unison they both uttered the same word, "Mistletoe!"

Catherine looked at Warrick and laughed.

"Merry Christmas's" rung out around the whole table.

The End


End file.
